o 


GI.T 
LS 


THE 


NAVAJO  INDIANS 


A 


STATEMENT 
OF    FACTS 


BY 


, 

(REV.)    ANSELM    WEBER,  O.  F.  MM 

ST.   MICHAELS,  ARIZONA 


'  I 

' 


1 


THE    NAVAJO    INDIANS. 


For  several  years  past  there  has  been  agitated  the  question  of 
allotting  lands  in  Arizona  and  New  Mexico  to  the  Navajo  and 
other  Indians  and  throwing  open  to  settlement  and  entry  under 
the  public  land  laws  the  unallotted  balance  of  lands  now  em 
braced  in  Indian  reservations.  The  cry  has  been  loud  that  these 
reservations  are  too  large  and  are  not  needed  by  the  Indians. 
Unfortunately  some  members  of  the  Delegations  from  these 
States  have  appeared  to  be  influenced  by  exaggerated  and  untrue 
statements  upon  this  question,  and  as  the  Indians  are  absolutely 
dependent  upon  the  Federal  Government  for  their  rights,  I  have 
tried  hereinafter  to  sho^v  why  these  reservations  should  not  be 
reduced  in  area. 

Congress,  as  a  whole,  is  responsible  for  the  Indian  policy  and 
may  not  conscientiously  shift  responsibility  to  Delegations  from 
States  in  which  the  Indians  in  question  live.  Is  not  the  Nation, 
as  such,  through  its  representatives,  responsible  for  the  wards  of 
the  Nation?  May  I  not  truthfully  say  some  Members  of  Con 
gress  represent  constituencies  or  rather  some  active,  aggressive 
constituents  who  are  enemies  of  the  Indians  and  their  welfare? 
THEY  have  responsive  representatives  in  Congress  in  such 
cases;  but  who  represents  the  Indians?  Without  a  vote,  placed 
under  Federal  jurisdiction,  he  is  not  a  part  of  the  State  "con 
stituency"  ;  he  is  often  fought  by  the  constituency  and  its  repre 
sentatives.  The  Indian  has  no  representation  unless  Congress 
as  a  whole  espouses  his  cause.  Too  often,  however,  Congress  as 
a  body  relies  implicitly  upon  the  Delegation  from  such  States  for 
information,  guidance  and  action,  and  such  Delegations  are,  at 
times,  misinformed  by  interested  constituents.  I  am  stating 
the  case  as  mildly  as  possible. 

A  CASE  IN  POINT 

is  found  in  the  Congressional  Record  of  June  17,  1913,  pages  2317- 
2321 :  "Within  three  months  the  Indian  Department  has  located 
37  renegade  Navajos  in  Socorro  County,  New  Mexico,  250  miles 
from  the  Navajo  Reservation,  where  they  have  unallotted 
12,211,300  acres." 

Not  250  miles,  but  54  miles,  as  the  bird  flies,  from  the  Navajo 
Reservation. 

"Including  the  Navajos  who  are  off  the  reserve  and  the  Nav- 
ijos  who  are  not,  there  are  1,100  acres  to  every  Navajo,  man, 
voman  and  child." 

This  is  a  simple  question  of  census,  acreage  and  arithmetic. 
According  to  the  Census  of  1910  the  Navajo  tribe  numbers 
<2>455  people.  To  my  own  personal  knowledge  a  large  number 


3118B4 


of  Navajos  were  not  enumerated  in  that  census;  but  let  us 
accept  the  figure  of  the  last  census.  Let  us  also  assume 
12,000,000  acres  as  constituting  the  Navajo  Treaty  Reservation 
and  the  various  Executive  Order  Reservations,  and  a  simple 
example  of  arithmetic  will  show  that,  instead  of  1,100  acres,  each 
member  of  the  tribe  would  have  but  534  acres. 

However,  to  be  more  accurate:  The  Navajo  Reservation  em 
braces  11,887,793  acres,  of  which  approximately  719,360  acres 
belong  to  the  Santa  Fe  Pacific  Railroad  Company,  and  approxi 
mately  55,400  acres  to  the  State  of  Arizona,  leaving  ii,U3,P33 
acres.  Consequently,  if  you  take  the  very  conservative  figure  of 
25,000  Navajos  and  11,113,033  acres  really  belonging  to  them, 
you  would  have  444  acres  to  the  person. 

"These  .137  Indians  (of  Socorro  County)  happen  to  represent 
the  renegades  of  the  tribe,  who  would  not  stay  home  and  work, 
but  have  been  leading  a  nomadic  life  for  several  years  in  the 
mountains  of  New  Mexico,  existing  by  fishing  and  stealing. 
Those  are  the  Indians  who  have  been  located  among  the  citizens 
who  are  compelled  to  pay  the  taxes." 

It  is  true,  some  of  these  137  Navajos  are  renegades,  or  rather 
descendants  of  renegades,  but  in  a  peculiar  acceptation  of  the 
word.  The  Navajos  call  them  "Dine  Ana'i,"  i.  e.,  "Navajo  ene 
mies."  Years  ago,  before  the  Navajos  were  subdued  and  taken 
to  Fort  Sumner,  in  1862,  when  raids  between  Mexicans  and 
Navajos  were  of  frequent  occurrence  and  about  1,500  Navajos 
were  held  captives  by  the  Mexicans,  the  Mexicans  employed 
"renegade  Navajos,"  "Dine  Ana'i,"  as  their  guides  in  raiding 
the  Navajos;  some  of  those  137  are  descendants  of  such,  and  the 
Navajos  would  not  care  to  receive  them  on  the  reservation. 

"For  several  years  in  the  mountains."  Why,  many  of  them 
have  been  born  right  there  in  Socorro  County;  at  any  rate,  I 
have  a  paper  before  me,  dated  June  23,  1894,  written  by  the 
Archbishop  of  Santa  Fe,  signed  by  forty-three  persons  of  Socorro 
County,  testifying  to  the  good  character  and  good  intentions  of 
these  Navajos  of  Socorro  County.  Furthermore,  the  records  of 
the  Santa  Fe  Land  Office  show  that  settlement  was  made  by 
some  of  these  Indians  in  1870,  and  homestead  entries  in  1883  and 
1888.  As  early  as  1886  Judge  McComas  of  Albuquerque  tried  to 
dispossess  the  Navajo,  David  Torres,  claiming  the  land  to  be 
coal  land. 

"Existing  by  fishing  and  stealing." 

They  have  small  herds  of  sheep  and  goats  and  work  as  herds 
men  for  the  Mexicans.  The  records  of  the  District  Court  for 
Socorro  County  for  the  last  fifteen  years  does  not  show  that  any 
Navajo  was  indicted  for  any  crime  during  that  period.  Fishing! 
I  doubt  if  there  is  a  live  fish  within  fifty  miles  of  their  habitat 
Besides,  fish  are  tabooed  by  the  Navajos.  Organize  a  fish 

4 


brigade,  armed  with  fishes  tied  to  switches,  and  you  can  drive 
the  Navajos  residing  off  the  reservation  back  to  the  reservation 
much  easier  than  with  several  regiments  of  soldiers  equipped 
with  modern  firearms. 

"I  want  to  say  to  the  Senator  (Bristow)  that  possibly  he 
does  not  understand  the  conditions  as  they  exist  in  our 
country.  Possibly  he  is  not  aware  of  the  fact  that  every  year, 
two  or  three  times  a  year,  these  Indians  are  allowed  to  go 
from  their  immensely  rich  reserves  to  interfere  with  white  men, 
American  citizens,  on  the  public  domain,  causing  the  killing  of 
anywhere  from  one  to  a  dozen  people.  This  is  an  unfortunate 
condition  of  affairs.  I  can  say  to  the  Senator  that  we  people 
down  in  our  section  of  the  country  can  deal  with  these  conditions 
if  we  are  compelled  to ;  but  this  sometimes  becomes  a  question 
of  all  a  man  has — of  his  property  rights,  of  protection  to  his 
family  and  his  children.  Any  white  man,  any  American  citizen, 
will  then  use  such  force  as  is  necessary  in  protecting  his  family. 
All  that  we  seek  to  do  is  to  restrict  the  further  location  of  these 
Indians  upon  the  public  domain  until  Congress  can  act  again. 
The  committee  is  being  appointed,  and  I  presume  this  matter 
will  be  investigated.  It  has  been  investigated  before,  and  re 
ports  made,  and  no  action  taken.  But  this  must  cease;  it  must 
stop ;  and  I  tell  the  Senator  from  Kansas  that  it  will  stop."- 
(Congressional  Record,  June  17,  1913,  page  2320.) 

I  regret  that  a  Senator  made  this  statement.  I  have  been 
among  the  Navajos  for  sixteen  years,  and  I  know  of  not  one 
single  instance  where  a  white  man  was  killed  on  account  of 
Navajos  leaving  the  reservation,  or  on  account  of  any  grazing 
or  land  disputes.  If  every  year  the  killing  of  from  one  to  a 
dozen  is  occasioned  by  Navajos  leaving  their  reserve,  how  is  it 
that  no  one  knows  anything  about  it? 

Furthermore,  is  it  true  that  every  year  two  or  three  times  a 
year,  these  Indians  are  allowed  to  go  from  their  immensely 
rich  (?)  reserves  to  interfere  with  white  men?  Navajos  living 
on  the  very  border  of  the  reservation  naturally  graze  their  flocks 
on  and  off  the  reservation.  (The  reservation  line  is,  as  a  rule, 
not  known  to  them.)  But  Indians  who  live  and  have  their  range 
within  the  reservation  do  NOT  leave  it.  When  the  small  treaty 
reservation  of  3,225,600  acres  was  created,  in  1868,  the  Navajos 
returned  from  their  Babylonian  captivity  to  the  homes  they  had 
occupied  before  their  abduction  to  Fort  Sumner;  they  did  not 
leave  the  reservation ;  they  had  never  been  on  the  reservation. 
At  a  recent  council  with  Indians  off  the  reservation,  193  heads 
of  families  attending,  each  one  was  asked  and  each  one  asserted 
most  emphatically  that  he  had  never  lived  on  the  reservation  and 
had  never  ranged  his  stock  thereon. 

5 


One  more  quotation:  "In  1893  *  *  *  a  board  of  army 
officers,  under  a  resolution  of  Congress  and  by  direction  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  Interior,  made  a  thorough  examination  of  the 
entire  Navajo  reserve.  They  made  a  voluminous  report,  which 
was  transmitted  to  this  body  and  to  the  other  House,  in  which 
it  was  shown  that  with  the  expenditure  of  $65,000  additional  to 
the  amount  of  $20,000  which  they  then  had  on  hand,  a  total  of 
$85,000,  the  Navajo  Reservation  could  be  placed  in  a  condition, 
by  the  opening  of  water  holes  and  the  development  of  small 
streams  of  water,  so  that  it  would  amply  support  every  Navajo 
Indian,  man,  woman  and  child,  on  or  off  the  reserve,  and  that  the 
9,000  off  the  reserve  could  be  taken  back  to  the  reserve  where 
they  belonged  and  no  longer  interfere  with  the  citizens  living  on 
the  public  domain.  Congress  refused  to  act;  it  refused  even  to 
appropriate  $65,000  for  the  purpose  reported  by  this  board  of 
army  engineers.  The  fault,  therefore,  lies,  to  some  extent,  with 
Congress." — (Congressional  Record,  June  17,  1913,  page  2317.) 

No,  Congress  did  NOT  refuse  to  act.  The  following  yeai 
Congress  DID  appropriate  $60,000  for  that  purpose.  What  be 
came  of  the  money?  Ask  Mr.  Vincent.  What  became  of  the 
subsequent  appropriations  for  development  of  water?  Ask  the 
respective  Superintendents  of  Irrigation.  Very  little  water  has 
been  developed  by  the  Government — the  suggestions  of  those 
army  engineers  have  been  carried  out  to  a  very,  very  limited  ex 
tent.  This  report  has  been  repeatedly  referred  to.  I  have  a 
copy  before  me.  It  shows  how  conditions  were  then,  twenty- 
two  years  ago.  On  page  28,  the  Hon.  Commissioner  of  Indian 
Affairs,  J.  T.  Morgan,  writes:  "The  relations  between  the  Nav 
ajo  Indians  of  New  Mexico,  Arizona  and  Utah  and  their  white 
neighbors  have  been  much  strained  for  some  time.  The  Nav- 
ajos,  on  account  of  lack  of  water  and  grass  on  their  reservation, 
located  in  the  Territories  named,  have  been  forced  to  go  beyond 
its  boundaries  to  sustain  their  flocks  and  herds.  *  *  *  In  a 
letter  dated  July  16,  1892,  Gen.  Alex.  McD.  McCook,  U.  S.  Army, 
commanding  the  Department  of  Arizona,  in  reference  to  the  con 
dition  of  affairs  on  the  Navajo  Reservation,  submitted  for  my 
consideration  certain  recommendations  based  upon  what  he 
deemed  an  immediate  necessity,  with  a  view  to  settling  the  dif 
ferences  between  the  Navajos  and  the  whites  upon  the  borders 
of  their  reservation,,  with  a  statement  that  it  was  reported  by 
the  Navajo  Agent  that  9,000  of  these  Indians  were  without  the 
limits  of  the  reservation  from  necessity;  that  they  had  large 
flocks  and  herds ;  that  there  was  no  water  or  grass  within  the 
official  limits  of  the  reservation  to  maintain  them,  and  give  suffi 
cient  water  even  for  limited  agricultural  purposes  to  the  18,000 
Indians  said  to  constitute  the  Navajo  Nation.  *  *  *  The 
General  stated  in  his  said  letter  that  it  would,  in  his  judgment, 

6 


be  inhuman  to  drive  the  Navajo  Indians,  with  their  large  flocks 
and  herds,  back  to  the  reservation  as  it  now  is." 

And  on  page  50,  he  states :  "Should  the  appropriation  be  made 
and  the  water  developed  and  irrigation  established  as  proposed, 
it  is  believed  that  the  roving,  non-reservation  Navajos  could  be 
returned  to  the  reservation  and  induced  to  remain  thereon,  and 
that  the  reservation  Indians  themselves  could  be  restrained  from 
going  beyond  the  official  limits  of  their  reservation  for  the  pur 
pose  of  securing  water  and  grass  for  their  flocks  and  herds." 

I  wish  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  this  statement  embodies 
only  the  opinion  of  the  then  Indian  Commissioner.  Nowhere  in 
their  report  do  the  army  engineers  make  any  similar  statement. 
But  let  that  pass. 

The  appropriation  was  made ;  water  was  NOT  developed  and 
irrigation,  as  proposed,  was  not  established  to  a  very  appreciable 
extent.  Even  if,  at  present,  all  the  recommendations  of  said 
army  engineers  were  carried  out,  the  same  conclusion  could  not 
be  reached  now,  after  twenty-two  years ;  or  is  it  reasonable  to 
assume  that  conditions  now  are  the  same  as  twenty-two  years 
ago?  Since  that  time  the  Navajos  have  increased  by  seven  or 
eight  thousand,  and  their  stock  has  more  than  doubled. 


OPENING  OF  THE  NAVAJO  RESERVATION  FOR 
SETTLEMENT. 

In  discussing  this  question,  the  character  of  the  country  and 
its  capacity  to  carry  a  certain  number  of  stock  and  to  support  a 
certain  number  of  people  must  be  taken  into  consideration ;  also 
the  number  of  stock  and  the  number  of  people  it  is  actually 
supporting  now. 

According  to  the  Census  of  1910,  our 

APACHE   COUNTY 

has  a  population  of  9,196  on  its  11,379  square  miles,  i.  e.,  0.8  of 
a  person  to  the  square  mile.  How  does  the  Indian  population 
compare  with  the  white  (American,  Mormon  and  Mexican)  popu 
lation  in  this  county?  Whilst  the  5,247  square  miles  of  the 
Navajo  Reservation  support  5,687  Navajos,  i.  e.,  i  person  to  the 
square  mile,  the  rest  of  the  county,  6,132  square  miles,  supports 
but  3,510  (whites  and  Indians),  i.  e.,  0.6  of  a  person  to  the  square 
mile.  Furthermore,  in  the  townships  south  of  the  reservation, 
occupied  by  whites  and  Indians,  the  population  averages  one 
person  to  the  square  mile,  but  the  portion  occupied  exclusively 
by  whites  averages  but  0.5  of  a  person  to  the  square  mile;  hence 
the  "Indian  country"  supports  just  twice  as  many  people  as  the 


"white  country"  in  the  same  county.  Then,  why  should  the 
Indian  country  be  opened  to  settlement,  since  it  IS  settled  al 
ready  doubly  as  densely  as  the  white  country?  Practically  every 
Navajo  is  a  stock  raiser,  though  he  may  practice,  in  addition  and 
on  a  small  scale,  dry  farming  and  farming  by  irrigation  where  it 
is  feasible,  but,  of  the  3,510  whites  of  Apache  County,  1,929,  i.  e., 
more  than  half,  live  in  the  towns  of  St.  Johns,  Concho,  Egertown 
and  Springerville ;  that  leaves  0.3  of  a  person  per  square  mile. 
What  per  cent  of  these  town  people  are  stockmen,  I  do  not  know. 
After  enumerating  the  population  in  four  towns,  twenty-two 
townships  and  the  reservations,  the  census  bulletin  states :  "Re 
mainder  of  county  392."  Exempting  the  four  townships  in 
which  the  four  towns  are  situated,  that  "remainder"  comprises 
3,288  square  miles,  i.  e.,  o.i  of  a  person  to  the  square  mile.  If 
the  5,686  Navajos  on  the  reservation  in  Apache  County  could  be 
removed  as  by  magic,  how  many  stockmen  would  that  country 
support?  Where  over  a  thousand  Navajo  families  make  a  living 
at  present,  possibly  a  few  dozen  absentee  cattle  and  sheep  men 
would  enrich  themselves.  But  the  Navajos  cannot  be  brushed 
aside  by  a  magic  wand.  To  open  the  door  to  these  cattle  and 
sheep  men  would  ruin  an  already  overcrowded  range  and  ruin 
the  Navajos  besides.  When  the  rest  of  Apache  County  is  as 
thickly  settled  as  the  Navajo  Reservation,  it  will  be  time  enough 
to  consider  the  opening  thereof. 

NAVAJO  COUNTY 

with  its  area  of  10,300  square  miles  and  its  11,471  people,  num 
bers  i.i  person  to  the  square  mile.  The  Navajo  and  Moqui 
reservations,  with  an  area  of  4,662  square  miles  and  an  Indian 
population  of  4,371,  numbers  i  person  to  the  square  mile;  on  the 
Apache  Reservation  1.3  persons  to  the  square  mile,  and  off  these 
reservations  1.2  persons  to  the  square  mile;  but  if  you  deduct 
the  population  of  the  railroad  town  of  Winslow,  with  its  2,381 
inhabitants  (not  to  mention  Holbrook,  numbering  609  inhab 
itants),  you  have  only  0.7  of  a  person  to  the  square  mile,  as 
compared  to  i  person  to  the  square  mile  on  the  reservation. 
Within  this  county  is  the  so-called 

BUTTE  COUNTRY, 

east  of  the  Leupp,  west  of  the  Navajo,  and  south  of  the  Moqui 
Reservation,  a  tract  of  land  24  by  39  miles,  which,  on  May  13, 
1908,  was  withdrawn  from  sale  and  settlement  for  allotting  pur 
poses.  The  523  allotments,  made  in  1908  and  1909,  are  not  yet 
approved.  The  odd  numbered  sections  in  the  west  half  of  this 
tract  belong  to  the  St.  Louis  and  San  Francisco  Railway  Com 
pany,  whilst  the  odd  numbered  sections  on  the  east  half  belong 


to  the  Santa  Fe  Railway  Company.  The  chairman  of  the  Ari 
zona  State  Land  Commission  and  others  demand  that  this  tract 
be  restored  for  entry  and  selection.  Is  this  tract  unused  and 
unoccupied?  Like  the  balance  of  Navajo  County  (deducting  the 
population  of  Winslow),  outside  of  reservations,  it  numbers  0.7 
of  a  person  to  the  square  mile,  though  the  southwestern  portion 
of  the  tract  is  absolutely  barren.  Within  this  tract,  on  14  town 
ships,  carefully  canvassed,  335  Indians  are  allotted,  and  they 
have  50,549  sheep,  1,124  cattle,  and  1,869  horses;  consequently 
they  have  five  acres  to  the  sheep,  or1  their  equivalent.  Deduct 
the  railroad  and  school  lands,  and  they  have  but  two  acres  per 
sheep.  Is  there  room  for  whites  within  this  tract?  The  railroad 
lands  of  several  townships,  among  them  T.  23  N.  R.  18  E.  have 
recently  been  leased  to  white  men.  Two  of  the  three  springs 
within  this  particular  township  belong  to  the  railroad  company, 
and  one  to  Charles  L.  Day.  Will  it  be  possible  for  the  Indians 
to  remain  on  this  township  and  retain  their  allotments — with  two 
acres  to  the  sheep  and  no  watering  place? 

COCONINO   COUNTY 

with  its  area  of  18,238  square  miles  and  its  8,130  people,  numbers 
0.4  of  a  person  to  the  square  mile ;  but  the  Leupp,  Western 
Navajo  and  Moqui  reservations  in  this  county,  with  an  area  of 
5,163  square  miles  and  2,722  Indians,  number  0.5  of  a  person  to 
the  square  mile. 

Deduct  the  -2,900  inhabitants  of  the  lumber  and  commercial 
towns  of  Flagstaff  and  Williams,  and  Coconino  County  outside 
of  these  reservation  numbers  but  0.2  of  a  person  to  the  square 
mile.  In  other  words,  the  Indian  population  on  these  reserva 
tions  is  more  than  doubly  as  dense  as  the  white  population  in  the 
"white  country,"  i.  e.,  there  are  3,200  acres  to  every  white  person 
living  outside  of  Flagstaff  and  Williams,  and  1,280  acres  to  every 
Indian  living  on  the  reservation. 

In  the 

LEUPP   RESERVATION 

within  this  country  eight  families,  seventy-seven  people,  having 
6,400  head  of  sheep  and  goats,  are  living  permanently  along 
Canyon  Diablo  and  on  the  southwest  part  of  the  reservation 
south  of  the  Little  Colorado  River;  8  families  are  living  along 
the  banks  of  the  river,  and  8  families  are  living  north  of  the 
river,  more  especially  around  the  "Lake"  and  the  "Cornfields." 
These  Indians,  living  permanently  on  the  Leupp  Reservation, 
have  13,400  head  of  sheep  and  goats,  103  head  of  cattle,  and  219 
head  of  horses,  whilst  5  families,  numbering  37  people,  and  hav 
ing  2,800  head  of  sheep,  no  head  of  cattle  and  75  head  of  horses, 
part  of  the  year,  are  living  on  this  reservation. 

9 


SAN   JUAN    COUNTY, 

with  its  area  of  5,476  square  miles  and  its  8,504  people,  numbers 
1.6  persons  to  the  square  mile.  The  Navajo  Reservation  (in 
1910,  when  the  last  census  was  taken  and  before  the  extension  in 
New  Mexico  was  opened)  with  its  area  of  2,384  square  miles  and 
its  2,693  Indians,  numbers  i.i  persons  to  the  square  mile,  whilst 
the  population  off  the  reservation  numbers  1.8  persons  to  the 
square  mile. 

Deduct  the  urban  population  of  Farmington  and  Aztec  (1,294 
inhabitants)  and  such  as  exclusively  follow  horticultural  and 
agricultural  pursuits  through  irrigation  along  the  San  Juan  and 
Animas  rivers,  utilizing  a  comparatively  small  area  of  land 
(there  are  706  irrigated  farms  in  this  county),  and  the  rest  of 
San  Juan  County  will  not  average  0.7  of  a  person  to  the  square 
mile,  whilst  the  Navajos  on  the  reservation  average  i.i. 

McKINLEY   COUNTY 

with  its  area  of  5,506  square  miles  and  its  12,964  people,  numbers 
2.4  persons  to  the  square  mile. 

The  Navajo  Reservation  in  McKinley  County  (in  1910),  with 
its  area  of  3,060  square  miles  and  its  population  of  5.527,  numbers 
1.8  persons  to  the  square  mile.  The  population  outside  of  the 
Navajo  Reservation  numbers  7,437.  Of  these,  1,752  are  Zuni 
Indians,  occupying  264  square  miles  in  McKinley  County,  i.  e., 
5.2  persons  (Zunis)  to  the  square  mile;  4.222  live  in  the  town  of 
Gallup  and  the  surrounding  mining  towns,  which  leaves  a  popu 
lation  of  1,463  people  living  on  2,181  square  miles,  i.  e.,  about  0.6 
of  a  person  to  the  square  mile  as  to  1.8  on  the  Navajo  Reserva 
tion. 

SUMMARY. 

In  the  district  covered  by  Apache,  Navajo,  Coconino,  San  Juan 
and  McKinley  counties,  taken  as  a  whole,  a  given  area  supports 
through  agriculture  and  stock  raising  two  Indians  to  one  white 
man ;  in  other  words,  the  strictly  rural  population  living  exclu 
sively  by  farming  and  stock  raising  is  twice  as  dense  on  the 
reservations  as  the  strictly  rural  population  of  the  whites  living 
in  the  same  counties  in  exclusively  white  districts.  Then,  why 
should  these  reservations  be  opened  up?  Because  the  propor 
tion,  two  to  one,  is  too  small?  Must  three  or  four  Indians  make 
a  living  where  but  one  white  man  could  subsist?  That  an  In 
dian  can  and  does  make  a  living  where  a  white  man  would  starve 
does  not  prove  that  an  area  which  supports  one  white  person  can 
support  an  indefinite  number  of  Indians.  Or,  should  the  reser 
vation  be  opened  to  stock  their  unused  area?  How  does  the 
stocking  and  grazing  and  farming  on  the  Navajo  Reservation 
compare  with  the  rest  of  the  States  of  Arizona  and  New  Mexico? 

10 


COMPARATIVE  STOCKING  AND  GRAZING. 

According  to  the  last  census  (1910)  : 

Arizona  has 1,226,733  sheep 

246,617  goats 
824,929  head  of  cattle,  equal,  in  their  effect 

upon  the  range,  to 3,299,716  sheep 

99,579  head  of  horses,  equal,  in  their  effect 

upon  the  range,  to 398,316  sheep 

3,963  head  of  mules,  equal,  in  their  effect 

upon  the  range,  to 15,852  sheep 

7,104  head  of  asses  and  burros,  equal,  in 

their  effect  upon  the  range,  to. .        14,208  sheep 


Total:  5,201,502  sheep 

Acreage  of  Arizona 72,838,400 

Acreage  under  cultivation 35°,I73 

Acreage  controlled  by  mining  in 
dustry 138,963 

489,136 


which  leaves  for  grazing  purposes 72,349,264 

Dividing  this  acreage  by  5,201,502,  the  number  of  sheep,  or 
their  equivalent,  you  have  13.9  acres  per  head  of  sheep. 
According  to  the  last  census  (1910)  : 

New  Mexico  has  3,346,984  sheep 

412,050  goats 
1,081,663  head  of  cattle,  equal,  in  their  effect 

upon  the  range,  to 4,326,650  sheep 

J79>525  nead  of  horses,  equal,  in  their  ef 
fect  upon  the  range,  to 718,100  sheep 

J4>937  head  of  mules,  equal,  in  their  effect 

upon  the  range,  to 59,748  sheep 

11,852  head  of  asses  and  burros,  equal  in 

their  effect  upon  the  range,  to        23,704  sheep 


Total:  8,887,236  sheep 

Acreage  of  New  Mexico 76,467,103 

Acreage  under  cultivation 1,467,191 

Acreage  controlled  by  mining  in 
dustry 467,626 

i,934,8i7 


which  leaves  for  grazing  purposes 74,532,286 

Dividing  this  acreage  by  8,887,236,  the  number  of  sheep,  or 
their  equivalent,  you  have  8.4  acres  per  head  of  sheep. 

11 


Now,   the   Navajos  have   1,781,900  head  of   sheep   and   goats 
43,000  head  of  cattle,  equal,  in  their  effect 

upon  the  range,  to 172,000  sheep 

87,000  head  of  horses,  equal,  in  their  effect 

upon  the  range,  to 34-8,ooo  sheep 

3,795  head  of  mules,  equal,  in  their  effect 

upon  the  range,  to I5>l8°  sheep 

5,440  head  of  burros,  equal  in  their  effect 

upon  the  range,  to 10,880  sheep 

Total:  2,327,960  sheep 
About  one-third  of  this  number,  i.  e 775^6 


are  off  the  reservation,  leaving 1,551,974 

1  on  the  11,807,793  acres  of  land  on  the  reservation,  i.  e.,  7.6 
ticres  to  the  head,  as  compared  to  the  8.4  acres  to  the  head  in  New 
Mexico  as  a  whole,  and  as  compared  to  the  13.9  acres  to  the  head 
in  Arizona,  as  a  whole,  or  as  compared  to  n.i  acres  to  the  head 
in  Arizona  and  New  Mexico  combined;  in  other  words,  the 
Navajo  Reservation  is  stocked  almost  twice  as  heavily  as  the 
rest  of  Arizona  and  considerably  more  than  one-third  heavier 
than  the  rest  of  the  States  of  Arizona  and  New  Mexico  combined. 
In  all  Arizona  there  are  but  9,227  farms,  including  cattle  and 
sheep  ranches.  Of  these,  4,841  are  irrigated  farms,  leaving  4,386 
cattle  and  sheep  ranches;  3,206  are  mentioned  as  Indian  farms 
or  ranches,  leaving  but  1,180  ranches  to  white  men,  showing  that 
the  number  of  Indian  families  supported  through  stock  raising  is 
almost  three  times  as  large  as  the  number  of  white  families  sup 
ported  by  the  same  industry. 

RANGE  IN  NEW  MEXICO  AND  ARIZONA  OVER 
STOCKED. 

It  is  universally  admitted  that  the  range  in  Arizona  and  New 
Mexico  is  overstocked  and  run  down  and  in  danger  of  being 
ruined,  hence  the  Kent  Leasing  Bill,  H.  R.  10,539. 

Mr.  J.  J.  Thornber,  of  the  Arizona  Agricultural  Experiment 
Station,  states :  "The  present  condition  of  our  stock  ranges  is 
highly  unsatisfactory  to  everybody.  The  production  of  forage, 
which,  at  best,  is  uncertain  on  account  of  the  climatic  conditions, 
*  *  *  has  been  reduced  to  such  an  extent  over  much  of  the 
country  by  continual  overgrazing  that  the  grazing  industry  is  of 
necessity  carried  on  under  most  adverse  conditions  to  the  stock 
men." —  (Bulletin  No.  65,  page  354.) 

But  the  Navajo  Reservation  is  stocked  heavier  and  its  range 
is  more  overgrazed  and  run  down  than  the  range  in  other  parts 
of  these  States. 

12 


Mr.  E.  O.  Wooton,  of  the  New  Mexico  Agricultural  Experi 
ment  Station,  makes  the  following  statement  regarding  the  Nav- 
ajo  Reservation  and  lands  occupied  by  the  Navajos  in  New 
Mexico :  "That  part  of  the  Territory  lying  northwest  of  Grant 
between  the  Santa  Fe  Railroad  and  the  Colorado  and  Arizona 
borders  is  a  region  of  rather  poor  carrying  capacity,  and  has  been 
badly  overstocked  by  sheep  for  years.  It  is  now  able  to  carry 
not  more  than  about  sixteen  head  to  the  section,  or  an  average 
capacity  of  about  40  acres  per  head." — (Bulletin  No.  66,  page  28.) 

CONDITION  OF  RANGE  ON  NAVAJO  RESERVATION. 

On  February  8,  ion,  Mr.  Matoon,  Forest  Supervisor,  wrote 
to  the  District  Forester : 

"CONDITION  OF  RANGE." 

"Due  to  past  overstocking  of  range  during  many  years,  the 
range  is  exceedingly  overgrazed  throughout  the  portion  of  the 
Zuni  National  Forest  included  within  the  Navajo  and  Zuni  reser 
vations.  As  a  result,  the  soil  is  eroding  badly  in  many  places 
and  the  sheep  belonging  to  the  Indians  make  a  scanty  living. 
Over  considerable  areas  in  the  eastern  division  of  the  Navajo 
district  very  little  plant  life  is  left  except  sagebrush  and  scrub 
juniper  and  pinon.  The  former  heavy  stand  of  grama  grass 
over  much  of  this  region  is  nearly  extinct." 

In  regard  to  this  very  tract  of  land  Mr.  Reeves,  of  the  Indian 
Office,  made  the  statement:  "In  Arizona  the  State  Land 
Commission  and  the  cattle  men  and  others  have  insisted 
on  the  office  carrying  out  that  provision  (Act  May  29,  1908), 
because  they  want  the  surplus  lands  restored  to  the  public  do 
main  so  they  can  use  them  for  grazing  grounds." 

Where  is  the  "surplus"  in  this  overgrazed  district?  Allot  this 
tract  of  land  and  open  it  up,  and  you  will  ruin  the  range  and  the 
Indians,  both.  The  attitude  of  white  stockmen  toward  each 
other  is  described  by  Prof.  J.  J.  Thornber  as  follows :  "Since  the 
country  was  practically  all  public  domain,  each  man  was  free  to 
graze  as  much  stock  on  it  as  he  was  able  to  possess,  without 
restriction,  and  without  any  consideration  as  to  the  carry Hr 
capacity  of  the  grazing  areas.  Besides  this,  there  were  tho.  e 
from  the  outside  who  drove  in  herds  from  time  to  time  to  graz 
on  the  same  and  adjoining  areas,  thus  sharing  further  the  ran  e 
with  those  already  using  it  to  its  fullest  carrying  capacity,  and 
in  addition,  continually  adding  to  their  herds.  With  this  'free 
for-all'  scramble  for  grass  into  which  conditions  finally  developed 
each  stockman  sought  to  get  all  he  could  while  it  was  yet  to  be 
had,  for  what  was  left  by  one  lot  of  stock  was  sure  to  be  eaten 
off  by  another.  The  nominal  possession  of  a  well-managed  range 
was  simply  an  invitation  for  others  to  come  in  and  graze  it  off 

13 


closely  without  any  regard  whatever  for  the  moral  rights  of  the 
settler  or  squatter,  who  might  desire  to  make  a  home  there.  No 
thought  was  given  concerning  the  maintenance  of  the  range,  nor 
its  permanent  settlement  later,  which,  above  all  else,  were  the 
things  to  be  most  desired.  That  which  was  free  for  all  to  use 
came  to  be  regarded  as  free  for  all  to  despoil.  The  very  domain 
that  should  have  been  carefully  guarded  as  a  heritage  for  future 
generations,  was  being  ruthlessly  destroyed  by  a  mere  handful  of 
persons  in  the  absence  of  any  laws  regulating  its  proper  use. 
The  above  state  of  affairs  led  not  infrequently  to  recourse  to 
arms,  especially  between  cattle  men  and  sheep  men,  of  which 
instances  our  local  histories  are.  .unfortunately  replete." — (Bul 
letin  65,  page  336.) 

"It  would  be  considered  very. poor  business  management,  in 
deed,  for  A,  to  improve  the  public  grazing  lands  adjoining  his 
holdings,  however  much  he  desired,  so  long  as  B,  C,  and  D,  his 
neighbors,  could  share  equally  with  him  all  the  advantages  and 
none  of  the  expense,  and  F,  and  G,  tramp  sheepmen,  could  drive 
in  their  herds  from  another  section  of  the  country,  and  appropri 
ate  the  last  mouthful  of  grass,  if  necessary,  for  their  own  use. 
The  above  is  but  one  of  a  number  of  conditions  which  obtains 
under  the  empty  and  deceiving  terms,  'free  grass,'  'free  grazing' 
and  'free  range.' ': —(Bulletin  65,  page  341.) 

"If  the  stockman  has  water  and  grass  on  the  public  domain 
for  a  thousand  cattle,  no  matter  how  long  he  has  been  a  resident, 
another  stockman,  and  perhaps  a  non-resident,  can  put  down 
there  beside  these  cattle  another  thousand  head  of  stock,  and 
the  resident  stockman  can  have  no  recourse.  He  must  share, 
and  share  alike,  his  losses  with  the  intruder,  regardless  of  his 
improvements  and  his  foresight."— (The  Practical  Application 
of  the  Kent  Grazing  Bill,  pages  4  and  5.) 

In  view  of  this  statement,  may  I  venture  the  question  what 
the  attitude  of  white  stockmen  will  be  towards  Indians  after 
opening  up  the  reservation?  And  what  the  condition  of  the 
range  will  be  within  a  few  years? 

It  is  true,  there  are  some  portions  of  the  Navajo  Reservation 
which  are  not  overstocked,  due  to  lack  of  water.  Development 
of  water  in  these  districts  would  relieve  the  overgrazed  portions 
of  the  reservation.  The  following  statement  of  Mr.  E.  O. 
Wooten,  in  Bulletin  66,  shows  that  the  same  conditions  obtain 
among  the  whites  in  New  Mexico :  "The  average  carrying  ca 
pacity  is  still  further  diminished  by  the  absence  in  some  well- 
grassed  regions  of  sufficient  water  to  render  the  forage  available 
This  condition  may  be  changed  by  developing  water." 

14 


OPEN    UNRESERVED  LANDS  IN  ARIZONA  AND  NEW 

MEXICO. 

The  clamor  of  these  two  vast,  undeveloped  states  for  opening 
the  overstocked  and  overgrazed  Navajo  Reservation  seems 
rather  ludicrous.  According  to  Bulletin  No.  66  of  the  New 
Mexico  Agricultural  Experiment  Station,  in  1908,  only  two  and 
a  half  millions  of  acres  were  held  under  patent  from  the  United 
States  Government,  obtained  as  homesteads,  desert  claims,  min 
eral  claims,  etc.,  i.  e.,  about  one-thirty-ninth  part  of  the  Terri 
tory  was  patented  land  and  55,000,000  acres  of  unreserved  pub 
lic  lands  were  subject  to  entry. 

Why  should  the  reservation  be  opened,  since  at  least  50,000,000 
acres  ARE  open  to  settlement  in  New  Mexico  and  are  WAIT 
ING?  In  addition,  on  March  30,  1914,  5,009,412  acres  of  State 
land  were  still  unleased  and  unsold. 

In  Arizona  there  are,  according  to  Mr.  Carl  Hayden  (Con 
gressman  from  Arizona),  "39,529,195  acres  of  unappropriated 
and  unreserved  public  lands. 

Hence,  if  anyone  urges  the  opening  of  the  Navajo  Reservation, 
let  him  advance  other  reasons  than  a  lack  of  unappropriated  lands 
in  these  states. 

AMOUNT  OF  LAND  NEEDED  IN  NEW  MEXICO  AND 
ARIZONA  FOR  SUPPORT  OF  ONE  FAMILY. 

Assuming  that  the  lands  of  the  Navajo  Reservation,  as  a  whole, 
are  neither  better  nor  worse  than  the  rest  of  New  Mexico  and 
Arizona,  I  proceed  to  quote  competent  authorities  as  to  the  quan 
tity  of  land  required  for  the  support  of  a  family. 

Bulletin  No.  66  of  the  New  Mexico  Agricultural  Experiment 
Station,  page  29:  "If  forty  acres  be  sufficient  to  carry  one  cow, 
and  the  rate  of  increase  be  50  per  cent,  and  the  yearling  be  sold 
at  $15,  what  has  the  stockman  gotten  from  the  forty  acres?  The 
gross  receipts  are  $7.40  for  the  forty  acres,  but  from  this  must 
be  deducted  the  interest  on  the  proportional  part  of  all  money 
invested  in  the  cow,  fences,  pumps,  troughs,  corrals,  buildings, 
etc.,  the  cost  of  all  service  necessary  in  caring  for  the  cow  and 
yearling,  and  all  other  running  expenses." 

Page  33  :  "The  land  is  good  only  for  grazing,  and  its  carrying 
capacity  is  so  small  that  from  2,500  to  7,500  acres  of  land  (4-12 
sections)  would  be  necessary  to  support  a  family  expending 
$1,000  a  year,  assuming  cattle  worth  $15  per  head,  and  that  the 
normal  increase  of  such  stock  would  be  50  per  cent  (carrying 
capacity  20-60  acres  per  head)." 

Bulletin  65  of  the  Arizona  Agricultural  Experiment  Station, 
pages  346  and  347 :  "Under  the  Texas  grazing  laws,  the  advan 
tages  are  pre-eminently  with  the  permanent  settler  and  the  small 

15 


holder.  He  may  purchase  not  more  than  four  sections  of  grazing 
land  at  $i  per  acre,  and  lease  ten  other  sections  for  a  period  not 
to  exceed  five  years.  *  *  *  The  absolute  lease  district  com 
prises  practically  all  of  Western  Texas,  in  which  country  condi 
tions  are  quite  similar  to  those  in  Arizona." 

On  page  349,  the  Australian  Lease  System  is  quoted  in  com 
mendation,  as  follows :  ''There  are  a  number  of  classes  of  leases 
to  fit  the  various  conditions.  Pastoral  leases  are  unlimited  as  to 
area,  but  of  28  years  tenure.  *  *  *  As  an  alternative  of  the 
pastoral  lease  is  the  homestead  lease,  which  is  limited  to  10,240 
acres  and  to  28  years  time.  *  *  *  Scrub  and  inferior  land 
leases  apply  to  their  respective  types  of  country,  which  might 
otherwise  remain  unoccupied  and  unproductive.  Their  terms 
are  for  28  years  usually,  and  the  maximum  area  obtainable  under 
either  of  them  is  20,480  acres.  One  or  the  other  of  these  may  be 
held  in  addition  to  a  pastoral  or  homestead  lease." 

The  author  of  this  bulletin,  in  his  speech  before  the  National 
Live  Stock  Association,  Denver,  Colo.,  makes  the  statement 
(page  7)  :  "There  is  little  grazing  land  in  the  Western  and 
Southwestern  States  that  has  a  stock-carrying  capacity  such  that 
even  four  sections  of  it  would  maintain  a  family  in  ordinary  com 
fortable  circumstances.  To  make  this  bill  acceptable,  the  entries 
must  be  much  larger." 

Mr.  A.  A.  Jones,  First  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Interior, 
makes  the  statement:  "A  bill  introduced  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  (H.  R.  6637)  proposed  to  provide  for  a  grazing  home 
stead  of  not  less  than  640  acres  and  not  exceeding  1,280  acres  in 
area.  The  bill  *  *  is  not  designed  to  apply  to  or  provide 
for  the  entry  of  lands  suitable  only  for  grazing.  The  maximum 
area  permitted  to  be  entered  thereunder,  and  even  the  maximum 
area  described  in  H.  R.  6637,  would  be  wholly  insufficient  for  the 
support  of  a  homesteader  and  his  family  upon  lands  of  that 
character." 

Mr.  Kent,  author  of  H.  R.  10,539,  states:  "It  is  obvious  that 
a  home  supported  by  the  production  of  live  stock  is  to  be 
gauged  not  by  area,  but  by  the  test  of  the  number  of  head  of 
stock  that  can  be  produced.  Vast  areas,  indeed  most  of  our 
grazing  country,  would  not  carry  sufficient  stock  on  two  sections 
of  land  to  support  a  family,  so  that  without  some  certainty  of 
tenure  of  adjoining  public  lands  there  could  be  no  assurance  of 
a  livelihood  from  that  source." 

On  March  9,  1914,  the  Albuquerque  Morning  Journal  had  the 
following  editorial : 

"  Better  Land  Laws." 

"A  bill  proposed  by  Congressman  Fergusson  for  a  64O-acre 
homestead  is  a  distinct  improvement  over  the  present  law 

16 


Better  still  is  the  bill  which  has  the  hearty  support  of  Mr. 
Fergusson.  The  proposition  by  Mr.  Jones  is  for  an  expert  ap 
praisement  of  the  lands  open  to  homestead.  Where  the  apprais 
ers  find  a  quarter  section  sufficiently  valuable,  let  that  be  the 
size  of  that  homestead ;  where  320  acres,  480  acres,  or  640  acres 
are  enough  to  afford  a  living  for  a  homesteader,  set  that  amount 
aside  for  entry.  Should  the  land  be  such  that  with  reasonable 
economy  a  man  cannot  make  a  living  on  less  than  ten  or  twenty 
thousand,  or  even  a  hundred  thousand  acres,  give  him  the  right 
to  enter  such  an  amount.  Such  law  as  proposed  by  Mr.  Jones 
has  in  it  absolute  fairness  and  unassailable  good  sense.  *  *  * 
The  Journal  states  without  hesitation  and  with  full  knowledge 
of  the  subject  that  quarter  section  homesteads  were  taken  up  in 
South  Dakota,  for  example,  during  the  past  quarter  century 
worth  more  by  far  than  any  ten  thousand  acres  now  open  to 
entry  in  New  Mexico.  We  will  make  it  a  little  stronger  and  say 
that  more  than  a  thousand  homesteads  have  been  taken  up  in 
South  Dakota,  during  the  past  twenty-five  years,  any  one  of 
which  was  worth  more  than  any  twenty-five  thousand-acre  tract 
now  open  to  entry  in  this  State. 

"What  is  true  of  South  Dakota  is  equally  true  of  the  public 
lands  that  have  been  taken  up  in  North  Dakota  and  Montana 
during  the  like  period.  In  making  this  statement  the  under 
ground  water,  which  may  be  used  for  irrigation  by  pumping,  in 
New  Mexico,  is  given  full  consideration." 

In  another  issue  the  same  paper  made  the  statement:  "But 
there  are  other  millions  of  acres  in  the  arid  Southwest  which 
never  can  be  irrigated  and  where  it  would  be  impossible  for  a 
settler  to  make  a  comfortable  living  on  less  than  50,000  acres." 

In  the  face  of  all  this,  what  do  you  think  of  people  who  urge 
the  allotment  of  160  acres  of  such  grazing  lands  to  the  person 
and  then  the  opening  of  the  SURPLUS  or  balance  to  settle 
ment?  Permit  me  to  quote  Mr.  Reeves  again:  "In  Arizona 
the  State  Land  Commission  and  the  cattle  men  and  others  have 
insisted  on  the  office  carrying  out  that  provision  (Act  of  May  29, 
1908),  because  they  want  the  surplus  lands  restored  to  the 
public  domain  so  they  can  use  them  for  grazing  ground." 

If  it  is  absolutely  necessary  for  the  salvation  of  New  Mexico 
and  Arizona  to  open  the  Navajo  Reservation,  let  it  be  done  after 
adequate  homestead  and  leasing  and  grazing  laws  have  been 
passed  and  after  the  allotment  laws  have  been  modelled  after 
these  prospective  land  laws,  and  after  the  United  States  has 
educated  the  Navajos  and  placed  them  in  a  position  to  cope  with 
their  white  neighbors. 

17 


THE  TRIBE  UNEDUCATED. 

Aside  from  the  children  attending  the  different  schools,  there 
are  not  over  400  members  of  the  whole  tribe  of  over  25,000  who 
understand  and  speak  the  English  language  wrell.  Twelve  years 
ago  they  had  but  one  Government  Boarding  School  for  the 
whole  tribe ;  before  that  time  the  children  were  not  kept  long 
enough  in  school  to  be  benefited.  Even  now  there  are  no  school 
facilities  for  5,000  Navajo  children. 

THE   POLICY  OF  ALLOTTING   RESERVATIONS 

to  Indians  may  be  a  good  one  where  the  reservations  are  agri 
cultural  in  character.  With  the  exception  of  a  few  favored  places 
where  irrigation  is  practicable,  the  Navajo  Reservation  is  good 
for  grazing  purposes  only;  and  large  tracts  of  land  are  not  even 
good  for  grazing  purposes  for  lack  of  water.  Allotments  for 
agricultural  purposes  means,  as  a  rule,  allotments  for  dry  farm 
ing;  and,  in  places,  bottom  lands  are  so  scarce  that  the  allotting 
agents  had  been  authorized  to  allot  in  ten-acre  tracts  for  agri 
cultural  purposes,  the  balance  of  the  160  acres  allowed  to  be 
allotted  somewhere  else  for  grazing  purposes.  A  large  percent 
age  of  Americans  have  abandoned  their  "dry  farms"  because  they 
could  not  make  a  living  on  them.  Shall  we  expect  an  Indian  to 
make  a  living  on  a  ten-acre  or  even  on  an  eighty-acre  tract  where 
an  American  fails  on  his  homestead  of  160  or  even  of  320  acres? 
These  small  tracts  of  bottom  lands  will  help  along;  in  good 
years  the  Indian  can  raise  his  corn,  squashes,  potatoes,  etc.,  on 
them  to  help  support  him;  but  his  main  support  comes,  and,  in 
a  country  like  this,  must  come  from  his  stock.  A  Navajo  Indian 
cannot,  as  a  rule,  make  his  living  from  his  allotment  for  agri 
cultural  purposes;  much  less  can  he  make  a  living  from  his 
allotment  (160  acres)  for  grazing  purposes.  That  is  obvious  to 
anyone  who  is  familiar  with  this  country.  On  many  a  quarter 
section  even  a  half  dozen  goats  would  starve. 

Worse  than  lack  of  sufficient  grazing  is  the  lack  of  water. 
Let  the  Indians  who  are  fortunate  enough  to  have  water  on  their 
allotments  insist  upon  their  right  of  exclusive  control,  and  self- 
support  will  become  impossible  for  the  vast  majority  of  the 
Navajos.  These  are  some  of  the  reasons  why  the  allotting  and 
opening  up  of  reservations  in  this  part  of  the  country  are  im 
practicable  and  fatal  to  the  progress,  if  not,  ultimately,  to  the 
very  existence  of  the  Navajos. 

As  to  certain  parts  of  the  reservation  where  lack  of  water  has 
prevented  overgrazing,  I  wish  to  state  that  it  is  absolutely  im 
possible  for  the  Navajos,  on  account  of  the  very  deep  snow,  to 
winter  their  stock  on  top  of  mountain  ranges  and  even  at  the  foot 
of  the  mountains  where  the  altitude  is  high.  These  Indians  must 

18 


have  a  different  winter  range ;  and  in  winter,  when  there  is  some 
snow  on  the  ground,  which  obviates  the  necessity  of  watering 
the  sheep,  they  take  their  stock  into  the  low  lands.  Hence, 
where  you  find  good  grass  late  in  summer  and  fall,  you  will  find 
it  grazed  off  in  spring  when  the  Indians  take  back  their  flocks 
to  the  mountains.  There  is  hardly  any  place  on  the  reservation 
which  the  Navajos  do  not  use  during  some  season  of  the  year; 
and  their  cattle  and  horses  roam  over  this  country  all  year  round. 

Now,  if  water  were  developed  in  these  places,  it  would  be  a 
help  to  the  Indians,  since  they  could  use  the  range  longer  and 
during  winters  when  there  is  no  or  hardly  any  snow. 

But  as  to  developing  water  in  such  a  country,  in  view  of  plac 
ing  Indians  there  to  stay  and  graze  all  year  round,  that  would 
ruin  the  range  completely.  The  soil  in  these  desert  lands  is  more 
loose  and  sandy,  the  grass  does  not  form  a  continuous  sod ;  only 
scattering  bunches  and  spears  of  grass;  continuous  grazing 
would  transform  that  country  into  an  absolute  desert.  Lack  of 
water,  however,  is  not  the  only  reason  why  some  places  are  not 
grazed  even  during  winter;  but  lack  of  protection  against  storms 
in  large,  open  tracts  of  country,  and  lack  of  fuel  as  well. 

Even  if  all  the  springs  and  lakes  and  reservoirs  and  the  best 
land  should  be  allotted  before  opening  up  the  reservation,  Amer 
icans  and  Mexicans  will  find  a  place  where  to  build  a  reservoir 
and  dig  a  well,  and  secure  it  by  homesteading,  through  Desert 
Act,  or  by  buying  or  leasing  railroad  or  State  lands,  and  come 
in  with  thousands  of  sheep  and  cattle  and  control  the  country  for 
miles  around.  Where  a  number  of  Indian  families  made  a  living, 
you  will  have  one  sheep  man  and  a  few  herders. 

The  Government  is  preventing  overgrazing  in  forest  reserves 
by  granting  permits  to  stockmen  for  a  certain  number  of  stock, 
giving  the  preference  to  actual  occupants  and  keeping  others 
out.  Why  not  pursue  the  same  policy  in  regard  to  Indian  reser 
vations  in  a  country  like  this?  Why  should  Mexicans  and  Amer 
icans  be  permitted  to  intrude  and  overgraze  and  "eat  out"  the 
original  occupants? 

The  aim  of  the  Kent  Grazing  or  Leasing  Bill  is  the  same :  to 
protect  the  range  and  to  protect  the  original  occupants.  That 
aim  is  obtained  by  retaining  the  reservations  intact. 

In  the  Outlook  of  October  18,  1913,  Mr.  Roosevelt  writes: 
"Among  those  at  the  Snake  Dance  was  Fr.  Weber,  of  the  Fran 
ciscans,  who  have  done  much  good  work  on  the  Navajo  Reser 
vation.  Fr.  Weber  has  attained  great  influence  with  the  Nav 
ajos  because  of  his  work  for  their  practical  betterment.  *  *  * 
Fr.  Weber,  like  every  competent  judge  I  met,  strongly  protested 
against  opening  or  cutting  down  the  Navajo  Reservation.  I 
heartily  agree  with  him.  Such  an  act  would  be  a  cruel  wrong 
and  would  benefit  only  a  few  wealthy  cattle  and  sheep  men. 

19 


*  *  *  On  my  return  from  this  dance  (Moqui  Snake  Dance)  I 
met  two  of  the  best  Indian  Agents  in  the  entire  service.  The 
first  was  Mr.  Paquette,  a  Wisconsin  man,  himself  part  Indian  by 
blood.  The  other  was  Mr.  Shelton.  *  *  *  Messrs.  Shelton  and 
Paquette  explained  to  me  the  cruel  wrong  that  would  be  done 
to  the  Navajos  if  their  reservation  was  thrown  open  or  cut  down. 
It  is  a  desert  country.  It  cannot  be  utilized  in  small  tracts,  for 
in  many  parts  the  water  is  so  scanty  that  hundreds,  and  in  places 
even  thousands,  of  acres  must  go  to  the  support  of  any  family. 
The  Indians  need  it  all ;  they  are  steadily  improving  as  agricul 
turists  and  stock  growers;  few  small  settlers  could  come  in  even 
if  the  reservation  were  thrown  open;  the  movement  to  open  it,, 
and  to  ruin  the  Indians,  is  merely  in  the  interests  of  a  few  needy 
adventurers  and  of  a  few  wealthy  men  who  wish  to  increase  their 
already  large  fortunes,  and  who  have  much  political  influence." 

MR.   FRANCIS   E.   LEUPP, 

former  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  wrote  once  upon  a  time : 
"The  Navajos  have  learned  that  thrice  blessed  is  he  who  has 
nothing,  for  from  him  can  nothing  be  taken  away.  Denizens  of 
a  desert  too  forbidding  to  tempt  white  cupidity,  they  have  es 
caped  pillage  because  nobody  believed  the  booty  would  be  worth 
the  trouble  of  robbing  them." 

But  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  thousands  of  acres  of  this  reserva 
tion  have  not  vegetation  enough  to  founder  a  humming  bird,  the 
reservation  as  a  whole  is  stocked  one-third  heavier  than  the  rest 
of  Arizona  and  New  Mexico,  resulting  in  overstocking  and  over 
grazing  of  those  portions  of  the  reservation  that  are  blessed  with 
vegetation,  yet  the  reservation  is  to  be  allotted  "because  THEY 
want  the  SURPLUS  lands  restored  to  the  public  domain  so 
THEY  can  use  them  for  grazing  grounds." 

OPENING  OF  EXTENSION  IN  ARIZONA. 

In  "Hearings  Before  a  Subcommittee  on  Indian  Affairs,"  I  see, 
on  page  12,  that  the  Indian  Office  has  asked  for  an  appropriation 
of  $43>000  to  survey  the  43  townships  in  the  Navajo  Extension 
made  November  9,  1907,  preparatory  to  its  allotment.  In  justifi 
cation  it  is  stated  that  the  Act  of  May  29,  1908,  requires  the 
President  to  restore  the  surplus  land  to  the  public  domain  after 
the  Indians  have  been  allotted.  In  explanation,  I  must  say  that 
Mr.  Andrews,  then  Delegate  to  Congress  from  New  Mexico,  had 
this  Act  passed  regarding  the  extension  in  Arizona  and  New 
Mexico.  The  extension  in  New  Mexico  has  been  allotted  and 
opened  up — and  the  consequent  conditions  are  certainly  not  en 
couraging.  There  may  have  been  some  reason  for  the  Act  of 
1908  as  far  as  the  extension  in  New  Mexico  was  concerned,  since 

20 


American  cattle  men  and  Mexican  sheep  men  had  been  using 
portions  of  that  tract,  but  at  that  time  the  extension  in  Arizona 
was  and  always  had  been  in  the  exclusive  possession  of  the  Nav- 
ajos,  hence  there  was  no  justification  for  said  Act  as  far  as  the 
extension  in  Arizona  was  concerned. 

On  page  20  of  said  "Hearings,"  Mr.  Reeves  states  that  the 
Arizona  State  Land  Commission  and  the  cattle  men  and  others 
have  insisted  on  the  office  carrying  out  that  provision  (Act  of 
1908),  because  they  want  the  surplus  land  restored  to  the  public 
domain,  so  they  can  use  it  for  grazing  ground.  Would  there  be 
a  surplus?  The  paragraph  on  Apache  County  illustrates  exist 
ing  conditions  considered  by  themselves  and  as  compared  with 
the  conditions  obtaining  among  the  whites  in  our  county. 

DESCRIPTION    OF    EXTENSION    IN    ARIZONA. 

In  describing  this  tract  of  land  (those  43  townships  of  the  Ex 
tension  of  1907,  in  Arizona)  I  shall  include  seven  adjoining 
townships  to  the  north — a  former  extension — just  south  of  the 
Treaty  Reservation.  These  two  extensions  in  Arizona  contain 
a  large  tract  of  very  valuable  timber  land,  about  12  townships 
having  been  embraced  within  the  Zuni  National  Forest.  The 
grazing  on  this  tract  is  above  the  average  of  the  Navajo  Reser 
vation. 

It  also  embraces  a  number  of  extensive  valleys  used  by  the 
Indians  for  agricultural  purposes — more  especially : 

1.  Bonito  Valley,  along  Black  Creek,  extending  from  Fort  De 
fiance,  the  Agency,  22  miles  to  the  south,  and  being  under  the 
Red  Lake  irrigation  system.  * 

2.  The  valley  along  the  Pueblo  Colorado  wash,  on  which  Gan- 
ado  and  the  Cornfields  Day  School  is  situated,  running  through 
seven  townships,  i.  e.,  42  miles  north  and  south.     Part  of  this 
valley  is  to  be  irrigated  by  the  Ganado  Irrigation  Project  now 
being  constructed  at  a  cost  of  $60,000. 

3.  The  LeCroix  Valley,  along  Cottonwood  wash,  extending 
through  five  townships,  30  miles  to  the  southwest.     These  are 
the  principal,  though  by  no  means  the  only  valleys  within  this 
tract,  used  and  needed  more  especially  for  agricultural  purposes. 

The  scarcity  of  agricultural  lands  makes  it  absolutely  neces 
sary  to  retain  all  the  lands  in  the  fertile  valleys  for  them,  and  as 
to  the  grazing  lands  on  this  tract,  I  shall  quote  again  a  letter, 
dated  February  8,  1911,  from  Forest  Supervisor,  Mr.  Mattoon,  to 
the  District  Forester: 

"  Condition  of  Range." 

"Due  to  past  overstocking  of  range  during  many  years,  the 
range  is  exceedingly  overgrazed  throughout  the  portion  of  the 
Zuni  National  Forest  included  within  the  Navajo  and  Zuni  reser- 

21 


vations.  As  a  result,  the  soil  is  eroding  badly  in  many  places 
and  the  sheep  belonging  to  the  Indians  make  a  scanty  living. 
Over  considerable  areas  in  the  eastern  division  of  the  Navajo 
district  very  little  plant  life  is  left  except  sagebrush  and  scrub 
juniper  and  pinon.  The  former  heavy  stand  of  grama  grass 
over  much  of  this  region  is  nearly  extinct." 

For  the  year  1912  the  Forest  Department  authorized  the  graz 
ing  of  only  18,500  head  of  sheep  and  goats,  and  1,050  head  of 
horses  and  cattle  on  the  Navajo  and  Zuni  division  of  the  Zuni 
National  Forest  Reserve;  but  the  Navajos  are  grazing,  not  their 
proportion  of  the  18,500  head  allowed  by  the  Forest  Department, 
but  they  are  grazing  40,000  head  of  sheep  and  goats  on  the  Nav 
ajo  division  of  said  forest  reserve  embraced  within  the  tract,  i.  e., 
on  the  12  townships  here  described.  This  proves  conclusively 
that  the  Navajos  are  in  need  of  every  acre  of  land  within  this 
tract. 

RAILROAD  AND   STATE  LANDS. 

But  half  of  this  land,  i.  e.,  576,000  acres,  in  actual  possession 
and  use  by  the  Navajos,  belong  to  the  Santa  Fe  Railway  Com 
pany,  whilst  55,040  acres  belong  to  the  State  of  Arizona.  The 
Navajos  are  in  possession  and  cannot  get  along  without  these 
lands  if  they  are  to  remain  self-supporting.  The  same  may  be 
said  of  the  17  townships  in  the  Extension  of  1884  in  New  Mexico. 

I  am  not  urging  an  exchange  of  lands,  but  the  purchase  of  the 
railroad  and  State  lands  from  the  proceeds  of  the  Navajo  timber 
sales. 

IN   THE   INTEREST   OF  THE   RAILROAD   COMPANY? 

Of  late  I  have  heard  and  read  so  many  innuendos,  intimations 
and  open  assertions  that  the  recent  extensions  of  the  Navajo 
Reservation — Western  Navajo,  Leupp  and  the  Extension  of  1907 
in  New  Mexico  and  Arizona — were  made  at  the  instigation  and 
in  the  interest  of  the  Santa  Fe  Pacific  Railway  Company,  that  I 
am  afraid  the  sentiment  thus  created  might  militate  also  against 
the  purchase  of  the  railroad  lands  I  am  advocating;  hence  a  few 
statements  of  fact:  Major  McLaughlin,  for  years  Inspector  of 
the  Interior  Department,  a  gentleman  of  sterling  qualities,  is  re 
sponsible  for  the  Western  Navajo  Extension;  the  Rev.  Mr.  John 
ston  is,  I  am  quite  certain,  responsible  for  the  Leupp  Extension. 
A  few  months  ago  the  Land  Commissioner  for  the  Santa  Fe  Rail 
way  Company  was  not  acquainted  with  him. 

Besides:  Western  Navajo  was  created  on  June  8,  1900,  and 
Leupp  on  November  14,  1901,  whilst  the  law  permitting  ex 
changes  and  lieu  selections  was  passed  three  and  four  years  later, 
on  April  21,  1904.  Where  is  the  connection?  Some  people  owe 
an  apology  to  these  two  gentleman. 

22 


And  the  extension  in  Arizona  and  New  Mexico,  created  on 
November  9,  1907,  and  corrected  January  28,  1908.  For  about 
five  years  previous  the  Navajo  Indians  living  off  the  reserva 
tion  had  been  agitating  the  question  of  an  extension.  About 
two  years  previous  Mr.  Brosius,  the  Agent  for  the  Indian 
Rights  Association,  made  a  trip  from  Farmington,  New  Mexico, 
to  the  south  over  the  country  east  of  the  Navajo  Reservation  and 
recommended,  among  other  things,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  report 
of  the  Indian  Rights  Association,  that  an  allotment  agent  be  sent 
to  allot  those  lands  to  the  Navajos.  Mr.  Keepers  was  sent  and 
had  been  allotting  lands  to  the  Navajos  on  the  east  side  of  the 
reservation.  In  consequence  of  Mr.  Brosius'  trip  of  investigation 
the  Indian  Department  sent  two  of  its  officials  to  investigate  and 
report  on  lands  off  the  reservation  occupied  by  the  Navajos. 
Previous  to  that,  Supervisor  Frank  Mead,  accompanied  by  Harry 
Curley,  made  a  trip  to  the  east  and  south  of  the  reservation  in 
New  Mexico  to  ascertain  and  report  conditions  to  the  Indian 
Office.  The  matter  was  brought  to  a  crisis,  however,  when  the 
Santa  Fe  Pacific  Railway  Company  leased  to  American  cattle 
men  several  townships  containing  lakes  and  springs  improved 
by  the  Navajos  and  used  by  the  Indians.  When  the  Indians 
found  themselves  despoiled  of  their  homes  and  barred  from 
their  watering  places,  they  began  to  raise  a  fund  for  traveling 
expenses  to  send  several  of  their  head  men  to  Washington  to 
see  the  President.  The  money  collected  was  placed  with  a 
well-known  Indian  trader.  Things  having  come  to  such  a  pass 
that  serious  trouble  was  feared,  their  Superintendent,  Mr.  W. 
H.  Harrison,  found  it  necessary  to  make  a  trip  to  that  country 
to  council  with  the  Indians,  asking  me  to  accompany  him. 
Both,  Mr.  Harison  and  myself,  advised  them  not  to  continue  to 
collect  money  to  send  a  delegation  to  Washington;  we  deemed 
such  an  expenditure  utterly  useless,  since  it  was  the  avowed 
policy  of  the  Department  not  to  extend  reservations.  A  few 
wreeks  after  these  councils  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs, 
the  Hon.  Francis  E.  Leupp,  came  to  Fort  Defiance,  and  the  In 
dians  made  use  of  that  opportunity  to  place  their  grievances  and 
their  requests  before  him.  They  told  him  they  had  been  urging 
this  matter  more  especially  for  the  last  five  years ;  one  inspector 
and  one  agent  after  the  other  had  made  trips  over  their  country 
and  had  reported  conditions  to  Washington.  Whilst  their 
agents,  when  writing  on  small  and  trifling  matters,  always  re 
ceived  their  reply,  it  seemed  that  just  these  important  letters  had 
been  lost  somewhere  between  Fort  Defiance  and  Washington, 
since  they  never  received  an  answer  to  them.  They  did  not  ask 
the  Government  for  any  assistance;  they  did  not  wish  to  ap 
proach  the  Government,  like  the  worthless  Ute  Indians,  begging 
for  a  piece  of  meat  and  a  loaf  of  bread ;  they  wanted  to  be  self- 

23 


supporting;  but  to  be  and  remain  self-supporting  they  needed 
the  lands  they  now  occupied;  all  they  begged  of  him,  was, 
opportunity  to  make  a  living,  and  protection  against  such  as 
would  deprive,  them  of  this  opportunity  by  depriving  them  of 
their  homes  and  watering  places  and  grazing  lands. 

Mr.  Leupp  told  them  that  those  important  letters  had  not  gone 
astray;  they  were  in  his  possession  at  Washington;  but  that  it 
was  necessary  to  deliberate  a  long  time  over  such  an  important 
matter;  besides,  the  Government  was  large  and  moved  slowly, 
like  the  big  freight  wagon  they  saw  before  them.  When  he  re 
turned  to  Washington  he  would  tell  the  President  all  they  had 
said  to  him.  He  did  so,  and  the  reservation  was  extended. 

Then  a  cry  went  up  through  all  Israel  from  Dan  to  Bersabee. 
A  petition  to  the  President  to  have  the  extension  rescinded  circu 
lated  in  five  counties  in  New  Mexico,  letters  and  telegrams  of 
protest  were  sent  to  the  President,  to  the  Governor  and  to  the 
Delegate  of  Congress,  and  indignation  meetings  were  held.  The 
opposition  was  directed  against  the  Extension  in  New  Mexico 
partly  because  some  Americans  had  leased  some  of  the  railroad 
lands  and  others  had  made  application  to  lease  several  hundred 
thousand  acres,  and  partly  because  some  Mexicans  were  wont  to 
graze  their  herds  on  this  section  of  the  country,  especially  in 
winter.  None  of  these  Mexicans  or  Americans  were  LIVING 
on  this  tract ;  they  simply  ranged  their  sheep  and  cattle  on  it, 
whilst  the  several  thousand  Navajos  had  their  homes  on  it  and 
were  depending  upon  it  for  a  living. 

Part  of  the  land  was  allotted  and  the  Extension  in  New  Mex 
ico  thrown  open. 

Unfortunately,  the  extension  did  not  prevent  Americans  from 
leasing  railroad  lands  on  the  reservation ;  in  consequence  there 
was  more  stock  owned  by  Americans  on  the  extension  when  it 
was  thrown  open  than  there  had  been  when  it  was  created.  It 
is  true,  the  Indians  leased  a  few  townships  of  railroad  lands,  but 
not  enough  to  adequately  protect  themselves.  At  this  time  the 
Indians  have  five  townships  of  railroad  sections  leased  from  the 
Santa  Fe  Railroad  Company  and  two  from  the  Frisco,  in  order 
to  retain  control  of  a  portion  of  the  range  they  need.  The  Indians 
could  not  be  made  to  see  the  advantage  of  securing  leases  of 
other  townships  until  the  white  men  had  secured  the  leases. 
Some  of  the  stockmen  are  trying  to  keep  the  Indians  out  of  the 
townships  they  have  leased  or  within  the  limits  of  their  allot 
ments  ;  this,  of  course,  no  Indian  can  do,  as  the  only  value  any 
of  the  allotments  have  k  the  amount  of  range  they  can  control 
surrounding  their  respective  allotments.  Recently,  one  man 
from  Chama  leased  all  the  Santa  Fe  lands  in  San  Juan  County 
except  half  a  township,  which  a  Navajo  had  leased,  and  he  has 

24 


brought  in  approximately  30,000  head  of  sheep.  It  can  easily  be 
seen  that  these  Indians  are  facing  one  of  the  most  grave  ques 
tions  that  has  ever  confronted  them. 

In  absolute  control  of  the  leased  railroad  lands,  with  equal 
rights  on  the  unalloted  public  domain,  the  privilege  of  renewing 
their  leases  and  of  leasing  more  railroad  lands — the  advantages 
of  the  large  stockman  over  the  numerous  Navajos  whose  small 
herds  do  not  enable  them  to  lease  the  railroad  lands  they  need, 
are  apparent,  and  the  outlook  not  encouraging. 

Off  the  reservation,  in  McKinley  County,  south  of  the  reser 
vation,  the  Navajos  have  leased  seven  full  townships  and  five 
fractional  townships.  One  of  these  townships  had  been  leased 
by  a  white  man,  who  promptly  bombarded  the  Interior  Depart 
ment  with  petitions  and  protests  against  the  "renegade"  Navajos 
whom  he  wanted  moved  back  on  the  reservation ;  he  prosecuted 
them  under  an  old  law  forbidding  anyone  to  herd  his  sheep 
within  nine  miles  of  a  ranch  house,  and  boasted  that  he  would 
have  these  Indians  ousted  from  that  township  within  a  year. 
And  he  would  have  succeeded  had  I  not  induced  the  railroad 
company  not  to  renew  its  lease  to  him  under  the  circumstances, 
but  to  lease  it  to  the  Navajos.  In  other  localities  the  whites  have 
eliminated  them  from  whole  townships  through  the  leasing  of 
railroad  lands. 

Such  conditions  as  described  on  this  and  the  foregoing  pages 
have  been,  and  are,  responsible  for  the  efforts  to  eliminate  the 
railroad  lands  from  the  Navajo  country,  whether  by  exchange  or 
purchase. 

In  the  Butte  Country,  as  mentioned  before,  the  railroad  lands 
of  several  townships,  among  them  T.  23  N.  R.  18  E.,  have  re 
cently  been  leased  to  white  men.  Two  of  the  three  springs 
within  this  particular  township  belong  to  the  railroad  company, 
and  one  to  Charles  L.  Day.  Will  it  be  possible  for  the  Indians 
to  remain  on  these  townships  and  retain  their  allotments — with 
two  acres  to  the  sheep  and  no  watering  place? 

In  the  southwestern  part  of  the  Navajo  Extension  in  Arizona 
Americans  leased  a  township  some  years  ago,  developed  water 
and  placed  improvements  on  it  costing  over  $5,000  and  applied 
to  buy  the  railroad  lands  of  this  and  two  more  townships.  The 
two  townships  east  and  the  township  south  of  the  one  contain 
ing  these  improvements  have  been  leased  by  the  Navajos  to 
prevent  further  encroachments  by  the  cattle  men.  In  the  last 
three  years  leasing  or  purchasing  applications  for  five  different 
townships  in  that  part  of  the  extension,  and  for  two  townships 
adjoining  the  extension,  were  made  by  as  many  cattle  men. 

The  Navajos  are  in  possession  of  these  railroad  lands  and  use 
them  and  need  them.  They  realize  if  they  do  not  secure  the  rail- 
'•  -,  •  .-:"-. ••.-'-•  •  •  25  -  -• 


road  lands,  they  will,  eventually,  not  only  lose  half  of  their  hold 
ings  to  white  men,  but  the  other  half  will  be  rendered  useless 
through  overgrazing — and  they  will  have  to  "move." 

The  Indians  on  and  off  the  reservation  pay  annually  some  two 
thousand  five  hundred  dollars  lease  money  for  their  protection. 

They  are  unable  to  raise  $8,000  annually  to  lease  all  the  rail 
road  lands  on  the  reservation,  and  about  again  as  much  to  lease 
the  railroad  lands  occupied  and  used  and  needed  by  them  off  the 
reservation.  Even  leasing  all  the  railroad  lands  would  give  them 
no  protection  if  the  railroad  company  should  begin  to  sell  its 
holdings  to  white  men. 

TIMBER  SALE  AND  PURCHASE  OF  RAILROAD  LAND. 

Realizing  all  this,  the  Navajos  have  signed  the  following  pe 
tition  : 

"We,  the  undersigned  Chiefs  and  Headmen  of  the  Navajo 
Tribe,  respectfully  request  that  an  appropriation,  reimbursable 
from  our  timber  sale,  be  made  to  buy  the  railroad  lands  which 
are  in  actual  use  and  occupancy  by  the  Navajo  Tribe  on  and  off 
their  reservation." 

It  is  true  that  Article  XIII  of  the  Treaty  of  1868  provides, 
"If  any  Navajo  Indian  or  Indians  shall  leave  the  reservation 
herein  described  to  settle  elsewhere,  he  or  they  shall  forfeit  all 
the  rights,  privileges  and  annuities  conferred  by  the  terms  of 
this  treaty";  furthermore,  that  Section  7  of  the  Act  of  June  25, 
1910  (Stat.  L.,  855),  provides,  "That  mature  living,  dead  and 
down  timber  on  unallotted  lands  of  any  Indian  reservation  may 
be  sold  under  regulations  to  be  prescribed  by  the  Secretary  of 
the  Interior,  and  the  proceeds  from  such  sales  shall  be  used  for 
the  benefit  of  the  Indians  of  the  reservation,  in  such  manner  as  he 
may  direct."  *  *  *  But  the  Indians  are  of  the  opinion  that 
their  consent,  expressed  through  their  aforementioned  petition, 
supplemented  by  an  Act  of  Congress  embodying  the  words,  "To 
buy  the  railroad  lands  which  are  in  actual  use  and  occupancy  by 
the  Navajo  Tribe  on  and  off  their  reservation,"  would  eliminate 
these  limitations. 

Considering  the  fact  that  their  timber,  except  four  million 
feet,  is  on  the  treaty  reservation  on  which  there  are  no  railroad 
lands,  their  action  might  seem  ultra  altruistic,  were  it  not  for  the 
fact  that  the  Navajos  on  the  treaty  reservation  realize  that  their 
brethren  will  gradually  be  forced  on  to  their  already  overcrowded 
and  overgrazed  reservation  unless  the  railroad  lands  are  secured 
for  them. 

Roughly  estimated,  the  timber  on  the  treaty  reservation 
amounts  to  about  2,600,000,000  feet,  whilst  the  timber  on  the 
extended  Navajo  Reservation  amounts  to  about  800,000,000,  half 

26 


of  which  belongs  to  the  Santa  Fe  Railway  Company.  The 
Navajos  ask  that  the  timber  be  sold  through  the  Forest  De 
partment. 

NOT  FEASIBLE? 

I  have  been  told  that  two  things  militate  against  granting  this 
petition  : 

1.  The  law  of  1904  permitting  exchanges  of  land — rendering  a 
purchase  unnecessary ; 

2.  On  account  of  the  large  area  of  land  held  by  the  Navajos, 
Congress  could  not  be  induced  to  make  such  a  reimbursable  ap 
propriation. 

As  to  the  first,  if  the  Department  of  the  Interior  wishes  to  avail 
itself  of  the  law  of  1904  in  spite  of  the  vigorous  opposition  of  the 
Delegations  from  Arizona  and  New  Mexico  and  of  Mr.  Mulford 
Winsor,  State  Land  Commissioner  of  Arizona,  the  Indians  would 
not  object,  I  am  sure. 

If  Mr.  Mulford  Winsor  needs  all  the  available  good  lands  in 
Arizona,  also  those  on  the  Navajo  Reservation,  as  it  would  seem, 
to  make  selections  for  the  State,  the  following  passages,  taken 
from  the  St.  Johns  Herald  of  January  8,  1914,  sound  rather 
strangej__  "Seven  or  eight  million  acres  of  land  in  Arizona,  out 
side  Forest  Reserves  and  Indian  Reservations,  is  reclaimable  by 
irrigation.  This  is  the  estimate  of  the  State  Land  Commission. 
The  Commissioners  have  now  been  in  office  long  enough  to  have 
visited  practically  every  township  within  the  borders  of  Arizona. 
They  declare  that  the  public  has  absolutely  no  conception  of  the 
vast  number  of  reservoir  sites,  or  of  areas  of  land  which  can  be 
cultivated  profitably  with  pumping  water." 

"There  are  not  hundreds  of  reservoir  sites,  but  thousands  of 
them.  Only  a  few  have  been  withdrawn  under  the  United  States 
Reclamation  Act.  Along  every  stream  in  the  State  is  at  least  a 
small  site,  the  Commissioners  say.  In  some  sections  of  'dry' 
Arizona  there  is  more  water,  if  conserved  by  storage,  than  there 
is  land.  Numerous  sites  are  found  along  the  Little  Colorado, 
Gila  and  Santa  Cruz  Rivers.  One  of  the  largest  in  the  State  is 
on  'Bill  Williams'  Fork.  There  are  several  on  Cataract  Canyon, 
in  Coconino  County.  Several  vast  valleys  in  Mohave  County 
can  be  irrigated  from  the  Colorado  or  from  reservoirs  in  smaller 
streams.  Cochise  County  has  many  sites  in  the  Swisshelm, 
Whetstone  and  Dragoon  Mountains.  Greenlee  has  more  sites 
than  land." 

As  to  the  second  point,  it  has  been  the  object  of  this  paper  to 
place  facts  and  figures  before  the  members  of  Congress  and  oth 
ers  interested  and  to  make  them  acquainted  with  the  character  of 
the  land,  grazing  conditions,  etc.,  in  the  Navajo  country.  I  need 
not  repeat. 

27 


REIMBURSABLE  APPROPRIATION. 

The  reimbursable  appropriation  ought  to  be  made  in  the  near 
future.  After  the  railroad  lands  have  been  partially  leased  and 
partially  bought  by  white  men,  and  the  Indians  have  lost  their 
homes  and  watering  places  and  grazing  grounds — the  means  to 
make  an  independent  living — it  will  be  too  late. 

The  same  holds  good  regarding  State  lands.  If  their  timber  is 
sold,  the  State  Land  Commissioners  will  be  able  to  dispose  of 
the  State  lands  within  the  Navajo  country  to  the  Navajos  much 
sooner  than  they  could  sell  to  the  whites  in  other  parts  of  the 
State. 

Whether  the  money  thus  appropriated  will  be  reimbursed  in 
the  near  future,  lies  with  the  Government.  The  ripe  timber  is 
there  in  abundance  awaiting  a  purchaser.  There  are  other  uses 
to  which  the  proceeds  of  the  timber  sale  could  be  put  after  the 
necessary  lands  have  been  purchased:  educational  and  sanitary 
purposes,  the  development  of  water,  upbreeding  of  their  stock,  etc. 

If  this  method  is  neglected,  the  Indians  and  their  friends  are 
forced  to  urge  the  only  alternative :  exchange  of  lands. 

Dead  assets  are  of  no  use  to  anyone.  It  would  seem  in  accord 
with  our  business  administration  to  bring  this  dead  capital  to 
life  to  help  the  Indians  and  to  save  direct  appropriations  out  of 
the  pockets  of  the  taxpayers. 

TIMBER  SALE  FOR  MESCALERO  APACHES. 

A  similar  point  in  question  is  the  timber  on  the  Mescalero 
Reservation.  Whilst  their  timber  is  estimated  at  several  million 
dollars,  the  Indians — no,  they  are  not  starving,  but  there  is  a 
condition  bordering  on  starvation  when,  through  lack  of  food, 
the  system  is  so  enfeebled  that  any  sickness  will  carry  them  off 
to  the  Happy  Hunting  Grounds. 

The  187  Fort  Sill  Indians — brought  to  Mescalero — are  receiv 
ing  rations  until  next  October.  What  then?  The  son  of  Vic- 
torio  told  me  they  were  used  to  getting  enough  to  eat;  they 
could  not  subsist  on  one  full  meal  every  second  day — like  the 
Mescaleros !  Does  anyone  imagine  that  they  can  make  a  living 
by  raising  oats  in  the  clouds  of  White  Tail? 

There  may  not  have  been  a  contract;  but  the- Mescaleros  re 
ceived  the  Fort  Sills  to  full  tribal  rights  of  land,  money  and  other 
benefits,  and  the  Fort  Sills  accepted  this  offer,  both  under  the 
supposition  that  their  timber  be  sold  and  the  proceeds  used  to 
stock  the  reservation  for  both,  the  Mescaleros  and  the  Fort  Sills; 
but,  instead  of  that,  on  January  26,  1914,  S.  4187  was  introduced 
to  convert  the  Mescalero  Apache  Reservation  into  a  National 
Park  "for  the  benefit  and  enjoyment  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States" — without  any  provision  for  timber  sale  (except 

28 


"for  the  protection  or  improvement  of  the  park")  or  purchase  of 
the  timber  by  the  Federal  Government  to  indemnify  the  Indians, 
to  enable  them  to  buy  stock  and  make  a  living.  The  free  grazing 
granted  to  the  Indians  by  that  bill  means  nothing  to  them  if  they 
have  no  stock  to  graze. 

I  hope  Congress  will  not  create  "pleasure  grounds  for  the 
benefit  and  enjoyment  of  the  people  of  the  United  States"  amid 
an  Indian  population  of  whom  Mr.  Meritt,  Assistant  Commis 
sioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  makes  the  statement:  *  *  *  "While 
they  have  great  potential  resources,  they  are  really  S^JFFER- 
ING  much  of  the  time  for  WANT  of  sufficient  SUBSISTENCE 
and  CLOTHING." 

The  attempt  to  relieve  this  deplorable  condition  through  a 
direct  appropriation  was  defeated  during  this  session  of  Con 
gress.  The  item  in  the  Indian  Appropriation  Bill  providing 
$200,000  to  buy  stock  and  other  means  of  support  for  them  was 
passed  by  the  Senate,  rejected  by  the  House,  and  lost  in  Con 
ference. 

It  is  hoped  that  these  facts  and  figures  will  command  the 
thoughtful  consideration  of  Congress  and  other  friends  of  the 
Indians,  so  that  the  justice  of  the  contention  of  the  Navajos  and 
their  friends  may  be  properly  understood  and  appreciated :  that 
their  reservation  should  remain  intact  and  that  they  be  enabled 
to  acquire  title  to  the  railroad  and  State  lands  occupied  by  them. 

(Rev.)  ANSELM  WEBER,  O.  F.  M., 

St.  Michael^,  Arizona. 
July  25,  1914. 


29 


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